The subject matter described herein relates generally to an insulating lid and, more particularly, to an insulating lid for a food container and a method of making the same.
Many known containers are configured to house products that should be maintained at a temperature either below or above ambient temperature (e.g., food or beverage products), and these known containers tend to be at least partially insulated. Some of these containers are configured to insulate a product for an extended period of time (e.g., days or weeks) such that they are intended for repeated use applications (e.g., a cooler or thermos that can be used, cleaned, and stored for future use). Other known containers are used to insulate a product for a shorter period of time (e.g., a few minutes or hours) such that they are intended for disposable use applications (e.g., point-of-sale applications in which a disposable coffee cup is sold to a consumer with coffee therein or a disposable soup bowl is sold to a consumer with soup therein).
Because the containers that are typically used to insulate for extended periods of time often have a foam-filled or vacuum-sealed chamber between two adjacent sidewalls of rigid plastic or metal, these containers are generally fabricated using materials and/or processes that are more expensive such that these containers are not practical for use in disposable applications. On the other hand, the containers that are typically used for disposable applications are often fabricated from materials and using processes that are less expensive (e.g., via a thin wall of flexible plastic that may be lined on the exterior with a thin sheet of bubble-wrap or foam).
The lids of many known disposable containers tend to be rather ineffective at insulating the container, but are typically inexpensive to make. In contrast, the lids of many known reusable containers tend to be more effective at insulating the container, but can be very expensive to make. Accordingly, what is needed is an insulating lid for use with a food container that is both inexpensive to make, and sufficiently insulating such that it provides improved insulating properties that can be used in either a disposable application or a reusable application.